The Rise of David: Part 3
So far in this series, On the Rise of David, we looked at David's ability to stand in the gap for the sake of his people when he faced Goliath. He recognized the moment, he recognized what needed to be done, and he had the faith to pull it off. It wasn't that he just rescued his people from an invading army. It was that he restored their faith that God was with them.
Then we looked at David's turning point: the moment he decided he was going to act as if he was king, even if he never ascended to the throne. God anointed him to be king, but he never promised David would sit upon the throne of Saul. David makes a decision to begin acting like the king of Israel as a shepherd king among the people, taking care of them, fighting their battles, and leading them. He gathered embittered men and turned them into warriors.
In this part of the series, we're going to look at how those two events and the character they forged merge into one event. David knows he has to stand in the gap once more. This time, the people are not anticipating his slaying of Goliath with a stone. They are ready to hurl some stones at him.
If you want to be a leader of men you will have one of these moments. Physical stones might not be thrown at you, but there will be people who begin to question your ability to lead them, and they may outright reject you. What you do at that moment will either establish you as the leader or will have the people looking for someone else.
The Mistake
The scene is Ziklag: David and his men have been hiding amongst the Philistines. Ziklag was given to David by the Philistines as a place of refuge for the families of his men. David would lead campaigns against the enemies of old, deceiving the king of the Philistines as to what he is doing. As far as the king of the Philistines knows, David has been fighting Israel all along. These battles are David doing what the king of Israel should be doing. Saul is too busy hunting David to do his duty. David does it for him.
David may be doing the duty of a king, but he is also lying. The deception will catch up to him.
Then the Philistines line up for battle against Israel. David and his men are with them. The king of the Philistines expects David to fight Israel because in his mind, David has been doing it all along. The other leaders of the Philistines are worried David will turn on them in battle and fight for Israel. So they insist he be sent away.
For a moment, David has been rescued from fighting his own people. He should be happy, he would be saved from his deception. But instead of submitting to the voice of the Philistine king, David insists that he go to battle with Israel.
Why? What would motivate David to insist on staying for the battle?
Could it be the temptation to reestablish his name with Saul and the people?
David is leading 600 Israelite men. He has been their leader in many battles and in the wilderness. He has sway over them. Somehow, he has convinced these men to go out to battle against their own people. And it’s written, “David’s men were in the back.” It’s also written that the leaders of the Philistines are familiar with the songs written about David, the killing of 10,000’s. These are clues as to David’s motives that the scripture doesn’t say explicitly - we are meant to meditate on them and learn from them.
This is the scripture’s way of saying: the greatest warrior amongst the Philistines, the giant slayer, is up to something.
The best warrior should be in the front. Not the back. Unless… David is planning on taking out the Philistines from the rear. That would reestablish his name in Israel. It also wouldn’t be difficult to sway his men to pretend to be going to battle against their own people. David’s deception continues.
But that plan was thwarted and David was sent away, back to Ziklag.
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